Cable firms and Facebook Continue to Disappoint their Customers

Serving and satisfying customers is a crucial part of  value creation in any business,but U.S. communication firms continue to struggle with the very basics and are being heavily criticized for poor service, price gouging, billing problems, and generally poor customer relations.

40 percent of the top 15 companies that most dissatisfy customers are communications firms, according to the latest data from the American Consumer Satisfaction Index.

The companies American most dislike include Facebook and cable systems, which operate as near monopolies and consumerss have no real competitors to turn to for better service. The scores for the companies are:

Direct TV: 68/100

Facebook: 66/100

Comcast: 61/100

Time Warner: 63/100

Cox Communications: 63/100

Charter Communications: 59/100

These are failing scores on any grading system.

The companies have little incentive to spend time and money to improve service and relations with customers because there is no real competition that can discipline the market and promote consumer benefits. The problem is compounded because cable services are largely unregulated and there are no watchdogs to demand better behaviour in the absence of market-imposed sanctions.

That means the only thing that can drive improvement is company pride, but it is abundantly apparent that these firms have no shame and really don't care what their customers think.

Help Desk Hangouts: Mobilize Your AdWords Campaigns to Connect with More Customers

Editor’s note: Each week on the Google+ Your Business page, we’re putting you in touch with Googlers and users who can help you as a business owner get the most out of our products and features.


In our latest Help Desk Hangout On Air, we discussed mobile advertising using AdWords with Googlers +Dori Storbeck, +Courtney Pannell, +Adam Grunewald and +Jeffrey Cheng. The group shared reasons for advertising on mobile devices, best practices for creating mobile campaigns, and a few tips particular to mobile ads. If you missed it, you can watch the full hour-long Hangout on the Google Business YouTube channel (check out the video description for a minute-by-minute breakdown):

Here are a few of the questions you asked us to answer during the Hangout:

If I have a separate campaigns for targeting mobile vs. desktop, how should I determine what to bid for mobile?
There are significantly fewer ad slots on a mobile search result page than on a regular search result page, so setting competitive bids can be key to getting the visibility that comes with one of the two top positions, which are frequently above the organic results. We generally suggest you bid more aggressively on a mobile-specific campaign to help secure one of the top slots.

Since there are only two top ad slots above the organic results on mobile, aren’t the bids too high for small businesses to compete?
Currently there isn’t as much competition for certain types of businesses on mobile devices since many advertisers may be focused on targeting computers; savvy small business advertisers can take advantage of the fact that the mobile sphere might not be as saturated as the desktop sphere for their product offering or service right now.

If I use call extensions, can I allow users to click-to-call OR go to my website, or can they only click-to-call?
You have the option to choose whether we show links to your website and your phone number or whether we show only the link to your phone number with your ads.

Wait, so you’re telling me I have to create a new mobile-specific campaign and a mobile-friendly version of my website? That’s just way too much work, I don’t have time.
It’s actually really easy to do! You can quickly duplicate an existing campaign using AdWords Editor - a free program which you can download here. Just make sure to change the device targeting options so that your original campaign targets computers only and the copied campaign targets mobile devices only. We also have a great resource which can help determine whether your website is mobile friendly and even help create a mobile version of your site for you.

To learn more about how to get your mobile campaign started, visit our Help Center or check out the AdWords Community forum. And remember to tune in to the live stream of our next Help Desk Hangout on Wednesday, July 11 at 11 a.m. PT — topic to be announced on the Google+ Your Business page!

Posted by Dori Storbeck and Courtney Pannell, Global Online Advertising Associates

Webmaster Academy: A Primer on Search Engine Optimization

If you have a website, you probably want it to be easy to find. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is “the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines” (Wikipedia). While the most important thing to do is to always focus on providing your users with a great experience, here are some great optimization tips to get you started:

Optimizing Content
If there’s one thing to remember, it’s to make sure your website has high-quality content. Your content should be concise, relevant, and unique. Remember to use words that users would search for, which you can find more data on in Webmaster Tools.

Improving HTML
Make sure that your website contains all the proper HTML tags necessary for search engine crawlers to understand each page. Each web page should have a relevant title (created with the <title> element in HTML) that concisely describes that page’s content. Images should have alternate text (the alt HTML attribute) because Google is much better at understanding text than looking at pictures.

Relevant Publicity
While Google pays attention to everything on your website, it can also learn a lot about your site from other websites. Consider sharing your website with other communities online. Don’t know where to start? See if your local chamber of commerce website lists local businesses. Google uses external signals like these when evaluating your website.

Because doing all of this can be a daunting task, many businesses hire search engine optimizers (also called SEOs). Just like with anyone you hire, before bringing on an SEO make sure to complete your due diligence - here are some tips to make sure you are bringing on a great fit that abides by Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

While search engine optimization can seem overwhelming at first, remember that it’s all about creating the best website for your users. A comprehensive list of SEO best practices can be found in Google’s SEO Starter Guide. For more information about how to build a great website that performs well in search, make sure to visit the Webmaster Academy.

Posted by Garen Checkley, Search Quality Team

The Business June 20th 2012, "Are You There God, It's Me The Business" Edition

The Business welcomes Young Adult author AMY REED reading from her new book, CRAZY. Amy also wrote BEAUTIFUL and CLEAN.

Supporting Amy will be Caitlin Gill, Chris Garcia, Chris Thayer, Sean Keane, and Bucky Sinister.

There's nothing funny about what happened to you in high school, although what happened to other people is HILARIOUS.

Some people say that comedy is tragedy plus time, but we're going to show you comedy is high school plus time plus therapy.

Learn from other AdWords advertisers in the AdWords Community!

Since its launch in mid-February 2012, the (still-new) AdWords Community, has been a place for for all kinds of AdWords users (from small businesses to bigger advertisers) from all over the world to come together and exchange ideas, advice and stories with other AdWords users. It's really inspiring to see people sharing their best practises, pointing each other to resources, and enthusiastically helping those who need it.

I’d like to share with you a few comments from our members on their experiences with the AdWords Community:

NehaGupta: “I am happy to be part of Google AdWords Community. I love to discuss about Google AdWords as much as I can as I believe discussions always bring something knowledgeable. Perfect platform for me. I am really excited spending more and more time here instead of Facebook. Everyday I’m learning new things and also trying to take part in conversation by replying answers asked in the forum.”

PPCBossman: “Hundreds of advertisers flow in and out of this Community on a daily/weekly basis and we all roll on as if it's just another day. ...There are great days where lots of problems get worked out, new advertisers are learning and members are achieving personal goals here within the Community. Just as any real life situations, we also have some down times too. ...I have had the most amazing experience here in the last few months, made some great friends, learned a ton and helped a few people along the way as well. But I keep coming back because I know that this Community, Visitors and Members alike, are here for me and guess what, they're here for YOU too! (for the full post click here)

David-nationalp: “I'm here because I'd like the ability to have some input into the direction that Google AdWords goes, understand what's going on in the PPC world, and be able to learn/share knowledge of Google AdWords.”

But the AdWords Community is more than just user discussions; you can find insightful articles (so called “AdWords Wikis”) written by expert users. You can learn more about the some of the community members, such as the Top Contributors, and what it takes to become one. And you can get some reassurance that the Google AdWords Community team is not just a bunch of robots. But instead of taking our word for it, why don't you go and find out for yourself! If you'd like, go ahead and leave us a comment by clicking on the "new message" button directly on the forum.

We are looking forward to see you in the Community!

Note: Currently, the AdWords Community is also available in the following languages: French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Italian.

Posted by Zuzana S. Moran, AdWords Community Team

Help Desk Hangouts: Business Photos

Editor’s note: Each week on the Google+ Your Business page, we’re putting you in touch with Googlers and users who can help you as a business owner get the most out of our products and features.


In our latest Help Desk Hangout On Air, we got a tour of Business Photos, a way for local businesses to display beautiful interior photos on Google Maps. Business Photos gurus Aubrey and Derek guide us through some businesses already on board, show us how to sign up, and answer questions, live. Miss the event? You can watch the whole thing on the Google and Your Business YouTube channel.

Check out the video description on the YouTube page for a minute-by-minute breakdown.

Some of the questions we answered during the Hangout:

How do I sign up as a business owner?
The best way to sign up for a photo shoot is to go to the “Get Started” page on our website to find a Google certified Trusted Photographer in your area. Contact them directly to schedule a photo shoot. If there is not a photographer in your area, request a photo shoot here to help us expand our program to your city.

Which categories of businesses are eligible?
A wide variety of businesses can be apart of the Google Business Photos program such as restaurants, retail shops, salons, auto repair shops, auto dealerships, dental locations, and much more.

What if the I remodel my business after I’ve had photos taken?
You are welcome to contact a Trusted Photographer and coordinate an updated photo shoot, but it is up to the individual Trusted Photographer to decide the cost.

How do I sign up as a photographer?
If you are interested in becoming a Google Trusted Photographer, please apply on our website. A Recruiting Coordinator may be in touch with you depending on the demand of photographers in your city.

Be sure to join us for next week’s Hangout at 11 a.m. PDT Wednesday June 20, when we discuss Webmaster Academy SEO. We’ll be taking questions early next week on the Google+ Your Business page.

Posted by Jade Wang, Google+ Local community manager

Using Blogger for your Organization's Website

Editor’s note: this is a guest post from David Kutcher, co-owner of Confluent Forms LLC and Business Blogger whiz.

Our company is based in the college town of Northampton, Massachusetts, a town with a very strong culture of “buy local” and “buy small” ingrained in the social fabric. Walking down Main Street you can count on one hand the number of chain stores found here; small businesses dominate. But in this tight economy, how does a small business that can’t or won’t deep discount compete against the large online retailers? How can they keep their existing customers motivated without slashing their prices, let alone grow? And how can my firm deliver a compelling website solution that helps these businesses succeed within their small business budget?

Blogger is a hidden gem in the area of website development, providing advanced services for customers at a greatly reduced cost. Behind every Blogger blog is built-in Content Management System (CMS) functionality which provides for most customer needs where a unique CMS is unnecessary. With the added benefits of Google-backed hosting, built-in security and an easy to use editor, it further lowers the learning curve for any customer's management of their site while being feature rich, intuitive, and customizable. As these services are provided by Blogger without cost, there is already a significant return on investment before any custom templating or other advanced development services are required.

Blogger can easily be used to create the “standard” 5 page corporate website, but a Blogger solution can also be used to great effect to engage a company's customers and fans. Using the native blogging functionality, it can alert your customers to new products, services and events, establish you as an expert through informative articles, showcase your achievements, and even make your business more approachable by highlighting your friendly and knowledgeable employees.

Over the past few years we’ve created a number of compelling websites, built on the Blogger platform, that have enabled our small business clients to interact with and grow their customer base. Our mantra for our clients has been to

1. establish the business as an expert,
2. keep the business in front of their customers/clients, and
3. make the site as easy as possible for the business to maintain.

A Blogger-based solution empowers these small businesses while still being customizable, affordable, easy to maintain, secure and stable.

Some examples of client sites that we’ve created and the content strategies behind them (and yes, these are all built on Blogger!):

Concentrics Restaurants, Atlanta GA
A restaurant group and consulting company that uses their site and blog functionality to showcase their restaurants, discuss their service offerings, announce new press and events, and alert their fans to specials. Their restaurants are unique experiences; the website was designed to capture the beauty of the spaces and the food and tempt new customers to experience it for themselves.

Pinch Gallery, Northampton MA
An artisan gallery that uses blog posts to showcase new artists and products in their store, providing additional context to the products in their online shop and giving existing customers a reason to stop by and check out what’s currently in the gallery. The Blogger site brought in such great traffic from far outside the normal customer area that Pinch decided to open up a web store that has been a huge success.

Ode Boutique, Northampton MA
A boutique clothing store that also doubles as a fashion blog discussing trends and featuring new clothing and accessories in their store, along with spotlights on local inspirational women, charities that they support, and their monthly Arts Night Out events. The site follows their mission of “marrying fashion, philanthropy, art and community in order to create an inspiring place to be and to shop”; each photograph, story, inspiration board, article or event that gets posted on their site advances their mission and their business.

Bakery Normand, Northampton MA
A true mom-and-pop bakery that writes about new seasonal offerings, communicates their ordering schedule for holiday products, and throws in some philosophical pieces that you know the baker was mulling over as he waited for the bread to rise. The Bakery waited until 2011 to have a website (after being in business 30 years!) and since the site has launched has jumped right in and begun using it to the fullest. It even encouraged the baker to experiment with new products because he wanted to post new pictures and product stories on his website!

How this translates into an engaging website for your business...

Step 1: writing articles, posting photographs, and creating content engages your customers and potential customers; a Blogger site provides the perfect platform as it was built for blogging.

Step 2: creating easy ways for your fans to follow you to get notified of new content (new products, service updates, specials, events, etc.) through "follow by email", RSS feeds, fan pages (Google+, Facebook, Twitter, etc.); Blogger provides these social media sharing functionalities out of the box.

Step 3: getting found through search engines and local searches; being a Google product has its benefits and Blogger has added additional tools for optimizing your site for search engines.

If you’re curious about using Blogger for your business you can view this Hangout on Air about Blogging for Your Business or read additional articles that we’ve written on the subject.

Posted by David Kutcher, Web Developer